Towards the end of January, Tata Motors introduced the 2020MY Tiago, Tigor and Nexon in facelifted BS6 avatars while sharing the same venue to launch the all-new Tata Altroz. Prices for the Tata Tiago BS6 start at Rs 4.60 lakh ex-showroom; roughly Rs 20,000 more than its BS4 counterpart. The hatchback comes with a host of updates in terms of styling and equipment but misses out on certain aspects such as projector headlamps and a diesel variant.
The Indian automaker discontinued the diesel-powered Tata Tiago (and Tigor) owing to low demand. Furthermore, the 1.05 Revotorq unit had its own share of shortcomings. For starters, NVH levels were pretty high and there was no significant performance gain (torque delivery) to justify it over the 1.2 Revotron petrol motor. There was never a major requirement for diesel vehicles in the segment either.
Tata Motors has not shared any plans regarding the reintroduction of a Revotorq-series diesel mill for the Tiago or Tigor. However, we have come across a 2020MY Tata Tiago facelift prototype in Coimbatore. Could it be a new diesel variant?
It was only recently that we shared a spy shot of a Tata Altroz test mule from the same city in Tamil Nadu. One could safely assume that it was the much-awaited turbo petrol variant (possibly with an all-new DCT powertrain as well) since Tata Motors sources various internal components (including turbochargers) from Coimbatore-based Jayem Automotives.
Earlier last month, Tata Motors had ended the 50:50 joint venture with Jayem Automotives in the JTSV (Jayem Tata Special Vehicles) project, which gave us the JTP-spec Tiago and Tigor. Hence, the test mule you see here could be anything but a performance-focused example like the JTP line (in case the regular body lines do not tell the fact).
It could even be a random platform to test some powertrain equipment that may or may not make into production. If it is indeed a diesel variant, it would most likely borrow the existing BS6-compliant 1.5 Revotorq mill offered with the Altroz and Nexon.
The BS4-compliant 1.05-litre three-cylinder diesel mill in older Tiago/Tigor versions made 69bhp @ 4,000rpm and 140Nm @ 1,800rpm. It came only with a 5-speed manual. On the other hand, the updated 1.5-litre Revotorq BS6 four-cylinder unit in the 5-speed manual Altroz makes 89bhp @ 4,000rpm and 200Nm @ 1,250rpm. The Tata Nexon BS6 diesel (with 6-speed manual/AMT) churns out a higher output: 108bhp @ 4,000rpm and 260Nm @ 1,500rpm.
This post was last modified on July 1, 2020 1:05 pm